Here’s a creamy, delicious recipe for Vegan Ranch Dressing, dairy-free, gluten-free and nut-free. It’s low-calorie, made creamy with silken tofu. Perfect for salads, wraps, bowls, or as a veggie dip! This can also be made oil-free.
Hooray for salad season! The farmer’s markets are open and full of beautiful tender salad greens just waiting to come home with us. Here’s a homemade ranch dressing that is perfect for some of you out there, watching your calories, cholesterol, oil, or fat intake but still craving something creamy- Vegan Ranch Dressing! This recipe is made with silken tofu, instead of cashews or vegan mayo. Silken tofu is loaded with protein and naturally very low in fat, but it still has a very creamy consistency when blended.
Use it as a salad dressing, toss it with your favorite greens, or serve it as a flavorful dip with veggies. This vegan ranch recipe has a delicious depth of flavor and a tanginess we all know and crave.
Vegan Ranch Ingredients
- silken tofu – use firm or extra-firm Silken Tofu, found in most grocery stores and is usually not refrigerated. It is not the same as regular tofu. It has a very silky, grain-free texture, perfect for sauces, soups, dressings and desserts. I like this brand because it is non-gmo and organic. I also like it because it is not refrigerated and doesn’t go bad. I always keep a few in my pantry.
- olive oil (or sub with water — or use half oil, half water)
- garlic cloves (or sub granulated garlic powder)
- onion powder (or sub a few slices of onion)
- salt
- crushed peppercorns ( or stir these in at the end)
- apple cider vinegar, red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar
- nutritional yeast (optional)
- fresh herbs (oregano, dill, tarragon, chives, or parsley) or use dried herbs: dried dill, chives, or oregano
How to make a vegan ranch dressing
Step 1: Place all ingredients in a blender.
Add a little liquid ( use olive oil or water) to get the blender motor going.
Step 2: Blend until very very smooth!
Taste and adjust salt, pepper, acid and olive oil to your liking. For extra richness, feel free to add more olive oil.
Step 3: Refrigerate.
Chill. The dressing will thicken as it chills and tastes better cold. 
Chef’s tips
Store the Creamy Vegan Ranch Dressing in a sealed jar in the fridge for 7- 10 days.
To preserve the dressing a little longer in the refrigerator, use vinegar, not lemon juice. Use garlic powder and onion powder rather than fresh garlic or onion, and use dried herbs rather than fresh herbs. This will extend its life up to two weeks.
Ways to use Vegan Ranch
- Toss with salad greens
- Drizzle over vegan pizza or veggie burgers for a little bit of creaminess.
- Use a dip for healthy veggies.
- Add to sandwiches and wraps.
Vegan Ranch Dressing Variations
- Add cajun spice! Viola-Cajun Ranch.
- Add jalapeno or chipotle.
- Add a couple of tablespoons of pesto! Vegan Pesto Dressing.
- Try other herbs- cilantro (for a Mexican twist) and a few slices of jalapeno, or fresh dill, fresh basil, etc.
- For extra depth- like to create a “dip” add 1-2 teaspoons of white miso paste.
More Favorite Vegan Salad Dressing!
- Creamy Herby Hemp Seed Dressing
- Creamy Avocado Dressing
- Vanilla Fig Dressing
- Peanut Dressing
- Miso Dressing
- Greek Salad Dressing
Enjoy the best Vegan Ranch Dressing! This simple, basic recipe is perfect for you to fiddle with and perfect to your own tastes. I hope you embellish it and have fun with it.
Have a great week!
xoxo
Print
Creamy Vegan Ranch Dressing
- Prep Time: 10
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 1 heaping cup 1x
- Category: salad, vegan, Dressings, Condiments
- Method: Blend
- Cuisine: American,
- Diet: Vegan
Description
A delicious recipe for Creamy Vegan Ranch Dressing that can be made without oil! Low calorie & made with silken tofu. Dairy-free, Nut-free, Gluten-Free and ZERO Cholesterol! Perfect for salads, wraps, bowls or as a veggie dip!
Ingredients
- 1 package silken tofu ( 12.3 ounces) firm
- 2 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons olive oil (or sub with water — or use 1 T water and 1 T oil– for lower calories)
- 2 fat garlic cloves ( or 2 teaspoons granulated garlic)
- 1 rounded teaspoon onion powder (or a couple slices white onion)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 tablespoons apple cider or sherry vinegar
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast (optional)
- 1/4–1/2 cup fresh herbs- dill, basil, Italian parsley, or cilantro or a blend (or use 1-2 tablespoons fresh oregano, or 1 teaspoon dry oregano)
- 1 teaspoon crushed peppercorns (or stir these in at the end)
Instructions
- Place ingredients in a blender and add just enough water or olive oil to get the blender going. Scrape down sides as necessary.
- Blend until creamy and smooth!
- Taste. For extra richness or creaminess, add more olive oil. Add any extras that you like- see notes.
- Chill. The dressing will thicken as it chills.
Notes
Store in a sealed jar in the fridge for 7-10 days. See chef’s tips in post body extending the shelf life.
Other additions: Cajun spice (for Cajun Ranch), white miso paste, for extra depth, if using it as a dip. Jalapeno, chipotle, or hot sauce for added kick!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 tablespoons ( includes the 2 Tablespoons olive oil)
- Calories: 61
- Sugar: 0.2 g
- Sodium: 292.7 mg
- Fat: 4.9 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 1.6 g
- Fiber: 0.4 g
- Protein: 2.8 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Good recipe. Made as directed but added more dill and some pickle juice. Doubled the fresh pepper at the end. Added a date to up the sweetness. Excellent base to play with. For me I did thin it out more with. I prefer a thinner dressing. Made about 7 servings for me.
Hey very nice blog!
I was craving ranch dressing, and had half a brick of silken tofu in my fridge… I’m so glad I found this. This was even more delicious than the vegan mayo-based ranch recipes I’ve tried! And I can truly call it healthy ranch dressing. The texture was absolutely perfect. I’m going to be making this and variations on it all the time now.
this is spot-on….really delicious…
This recipe is amazing! I added 1/3 cup lemon juice to it. I am on Weight Watchers and if the olive oil is replaced with water, it’s zero weight watchers points so I can eat as much as I want. It’s a saving grace when I get the munchies, it makes a great dip for vegtables. Thankyou so much!
Great substitute! I actually used a different brand that was 16oz (more than the recipe called for) but it worked perfect. I didnt have to adjust any of the other ingredients and I opted to make it oil free. I’ll be making it again for sure but I’ll skip on the optional nutritional yeast.
Thanks Sharon and good to know!
This is the best healthy vegan dressing that I’ve ever made. I’m trying to eat a whole food diet though so instead of adding the oil I just threw in a couple tablespoons of cashews and used my high speed blender to mix it. It was absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing!
Oh good! Glad it worked for you!
Just made this. (Put an extra Tbsp of vinegar in error) still delicious
This was way too much garlic taste for me. Really 2 fat garlic cloves when it makes only about 1 ½ C cups of dressing? None of my family would eat it. If I try it again I will definitely just use powdered garlic
Sorry about that. I really enjoy the “kick” but perhaps not for everyone. 😉 It does mellow after a few hours.
So delicious! Delighted to have found a plant based recipe that tastes just like the ranch dressing I have been missing as a vegan. Thanks so much!
This was too salty for me. I omitted the oil and water and texture was still pretty runny – I added a can of rinsed and drained white beans to balance out the salt and give some body.
Leaving the water and oil out would probably make it salty. When tossed with a salad, the salt is mellowed as well.
Simple, healthy, and delicious! Loved it. Thank you so much!
So good, so easy!
OMG…just made this = DELICIOUS!!!
yay! Im glad you like it!
Excited to try this recipe! Great to have a vegan dressing without loads of oil. P.s. I love the 1X 2X 3X feature on the recipe. I meal prep weekly and often have to upsize recipes to make enough for two people for five days of meals. Thank you for this feature!!
Thanks, Lauren! Also double check the feature is working correctly. Sometimes it can be glitchy.
So easy and delicious!
OMGoodness…shut the front door. I typically shy away from making any type of a salad dressing, and of all things, a Ranch dressing in particular.
I’ve just been converted.
Thank you because it’s truly delicious!
Im so glad you liked this Becky!
This was delicious! Used as a dip for buffalo cauliflower wings, celery, and carrots, and it was well-received! Reminded me a little of an onion dip you could dunk chips into! Yum 🙂
Great to hear- love it!
Awesome soo delicious
So simple and delicious! Thank you for sharing. This one is a KEEPER!! I will be making this often 🙂
Glad you hear you like it!
Hi again…I forgot to mention that tofu is great as a protein replacement but in a salad dressing… let’s just say you changed that, and again thanks for such a wonderful surprise.
OMG -This is the BEST!
Yummy! And so easy. Why did I wait so long????????
My tummy doesn’t like raw garlic – do you think I can use garlic powder instead (or would you recommend I just leave it out?)
yes, try granulated! or even roasted would probably work too!
I haven’t made this yet–planning to tonight, though–but I just realized I got SOFT silken tofu from the refrigerated section. Do you know if this will still work? I get so confused between silken tofu and soft and firm. I thought for sauces you needed the soft stuff, whether or not it was silken. And now I’m looking at the recipe and see you used firm tofu. Why is tofu so confusing! I hope it’ll work because the recipe looks YUM!
It should be fine!
This was surprisingly great! It makes more than enough to use in the cajun tempeh recipe while leaving plenty of extra to use as a dip. I do just kinda want to just drink it out of my jar but I’m trying to have more class than that.
Haha! I’m with you! 🙂 Thanks for sharing and rating! Appreciated so much!
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I’m just saving the blackened tempeh recipe along with this dressing, but wanted to say I love the way you write. It’s like sharing a recipe with a friend–so honest and down to earth.
Awwww, thanks Julie!